The Queen would be 'proud' to reign over an independent Scotland, says Alex Salmond

The First Minister says the monarch would be proud to be "Queen of Scots"
as he adds it is right she make no public statement about Scottish
independence

The First Minister said he wanted the Queen to remain head of state in a separate Scotland “as her ancestors were”Photo: Getty Images

By Christopher Hope, and Simon Johnson

5:00PM BST 09 Sep 2014

Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, has risked controversy by suggesting that the Queen would be proud to reign over an independent Scotland.

Mr Salmond said he wanted the Queen to remain head of state in a separate Scotland “as her ancestors were”, although many Nationalists are republicans who want to get rid of the monarchy.

Rejecting reports that she is worried about the break-up of Britain after next Friday's referendum, he said: “I think Her Majesty the Queen, who has seen so many events in the course of her long reign, will be proud to be Queen of Scots as indeed we indeed have been proud to have her as the monarch.”

Mr Salmond, who has regular private meetings with the Queen, was pressed whether she had expressed her views about separation.

He said he met her at Balmoral a fortnight ago but it was right that she stayed out of the debate.

Speaking at in front of ranks of Yes campaign supporters on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, he said: “The proper position is that the Queen will not discuss these issues in public."

Mr Salmond added that he had detected an "enthusiasm of the people of Scotland to have Her Majesty the Queen as our Queen of Scots".

Conservative and Labour MPs criticised Mr Salmond for dragging the views of the Queen into the independence debate.

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale said that Mr Salmond should keep the Monarch out of the independence debate.

Charles Walker, a Conservative MP, added: “Alex Salmond should not be bringing the Queen into this referendum campaign.

“His comments however well-meaning are totally ill-judged. I am sure on reflection he will regret having made them.”

Alistair Darling MP, the leader of the Better Together campaign, added: The Queen has stayed out of party politics throughout her entire reign and that is one of the many reasons she commands such great respect in Scotland and the rest of the UK.”

Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the Queen was above politics and “those in political office have a duty to ensure that this remains the case”.

A spokesman said: "The Sovereign's constitutional impartiality is an established principle of our democracy and one which the Queen has demonstrated throughout her reign.

"As such the Monarch is above politics and those in political office have a duty to ensure that this remains the case.

"Any suggestion that the Queen should wish to influence the outcome of the current referendum campaign is categorically wrong. This is a matter for the people of Scotland."

The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Tuesday that Prime Minister David Cameron is coming under increasing pressure from MPs of all parties to ask the monarch to speak out, as she did in 1977 when Scotland and Wales were voting on devolved national assemblies.

The Queen used one of her Silver Jubilee speeches to deliver a clear warning against breaking up the realm, saying she understood “aspirations” of devolved power but: “I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and of Northern Ireland. Perhaps this Jubilee is a time to remind ourselves of the benefits which union has conferred, at home and in our international dealings, on the inhabitants of all parts of the United Kingdom.”

Vernon Bogdanor, the Emeritus Professor of Politics and Government at the University of Oxford — whose former students include David Cameron — said there was no constitutional reason why the Queen could not speak out but did not think it likely.

The Scottish and English crowns were united in 1603 by James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England, more than a century before political union.

Mr Salmond has tried to persuade Scots to back separation by arguing that the Union of the Crowns would be one of five alliances that would survive the break-up of the UK.

But the First Minister’s enthusiasm for the monarch is not shared by some of his ministers, many SNP members and leading figures in the pro-UK Better Together campaign.